Automatic electric regulator.



E. LBITNER.

`AUTolszmIo ELECTRIC REGULATOR.

APPLICATION JFILED PEB. 26, 191.

Patented Oct. 8, 1912.

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l Q w NEE@ g H. LEITNER.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC REGULATOR.

PPLIGATION FILED 213.26, 1910.

1,040,704. Patented o0t.8,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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"l HENRY LEITNER, or MAYBURY, WoKrNgfENGLAND.,

Specification of ALetters Patent.

AUTOMATIC nrnd'rnrc 'montaron f .Patentedoeaa 1912.

Application led February 26, 1910. Serial No. 546,219.

It all whom it muy concern: y y e Be it known that I, HENRY LETTNER, a ,subject of the Kin of Great Britain, residing at Maybury, oking, Surrey, England, have invented new and useful Improve- 'ments-in Automatic ElectricRegulators, of v whichthe following is a specification.

This yinvention relates to electric regulators and the like chiey of the automaticy lotype such as are described in the specifications' of my former United States Patent No. 967,380 of 1908. In such regulators re- .'siatanee is put in the lamp circuit in proportion to the rise of voltage in the lamp supply oircult due to rise of battery voltage in consequence oli charge. It may be desirable Aalso to diminish the output of the generator charging the cells and a convenient method of effect-in this is ,to put resistances rogressively in t e dynamo field circuit. his method is particularly applicable to automatic generating sets with variable s eed dynamos such as are used; for examvp e, for train lighting. But it will be obvious that however correctly the complete system may operate within very wide limits it yet presupposes a certain normal proportion between dynamo output, size of battery and normal lamp load. If the battery and lamp load compared to the dynamo output are ve greatly diminished it is almost un-v avoidable that the powerful generator will? eventuell overcharge the battery or charge -it at too igh a rate. Moreover, even if the dynamo be provided with an output adjuster, that is to say, a'device for putting resistances in the dynamo field circuit by hand, vso that the output maybe broughtl A.within reasonable limits, the dynamo, on the 40'Sudden large increase of the lamp load vand the decrease of the battery charge, will not again readj ust itself automatically to the new conditions, so that hand regulationl is open to serious objections in practice. Now, accord-A ing to my present invention I overcome these objections and effect regulation automatically by utilizing the ipotential differences of the whole, or of di erent portions,of the resistance inserted in the lamp circuit to energize one or more electro-magnets which attracts or attract one or more armatures designed to short circuit in their vnon-attracted or oil position resistances or the li'lmi in-'the field circuit of the dynamo so that these resistances are inserted in the.

dynamo field circuit and lessen the output i of the generator,z lwhen-the said armature or armatures is or are attracted.

In the case of the adaptation of my invention to a regulator such as described in the specification of my former patent above referred to any considerable rise in the lamp A circuit is caused to' inserty by ymeans ofthe regulator arm moreand more resistance in that lampcircuit and also inthe dynamo ie'ld circuit until reventually the potential difference across the lamp resist-ance will actuate the automatic output adjuster' which is lthe subjecty of the lpresent invention, whereby a resistance will be inserted 'in one 70 or both of the field circuit progressive resist-ance scales ofthe regulator; this changes the'whole scale value of these rprogressive resistances and the dynamo out-put, while being reduced, still continuesto accommodate itself, under these new conditions, to load and voltage by the movements of the regulator arm. Should a heavy lamp load reduce the battery voltage, the said arm will go back until there is not suilicient potential diiference in the lamp resistance to actuate the automatic output adjuster, whereupon by the release'ofzits armature, the full dynamo output will be refstablished exactly when required, The same action will take place when the lamps are switched 0E as then the otential difference in the lamp ret sistance circuit isobviously zero. As a modiication, the invention would also beequally well applied to any circuit which is regulated by switching in or out of circuit regulating cells which cells may vbe switched-1in i or out either automaticall or by hand. In` this case the otential diiierence acrossthe regulating cel s is utilized to ,effect the automatic operation of the electro-magnetic device. t

To enable the invention to be fully understood I will describe it by reference tothe accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a regulator such as described, in my former patenti above referred to provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustratino' the-modification. 105

tIn the embodiment of my invention herein diagrammatically illustrated a is 'the\ dynamo, which is shown as self regulating as to variations in speed, b' the` battery of accumulators, L, L two banks of' lamps, 110

D the automatic regulator or rheostat, provided with suitable contacts, not specifically@ indicated, et the` arm of the said rheostat,

cups to control the direction of current to@ f the resistances in the shuntf the motor F field of the dynamo a.

h is a series of aduated resistances in series with the solenoid of the voltmeter control, so arranged that as the arm f of thev rheostat moves clockwise the resistance is gradually increased, with the result that in' creasingly higher voltages are required for causing the solenoid g to eect the furtheri movement of the rheostat arm. rlhus as the voltage ofthe charging battery increasesE the resistance z, is correspondingly raised and the output in amperes of the. generator is simultaneously 4and gradually and proportionately reduced until the battery b is fully charged when the field or fields is or are completely suppressed by the inserted resistance, and the dynamo is simultane-y ously cut o' by any convenient automatic? 0 n convenience in tracing the circuits, and to cut out c.

al and f are graduated resistances adapted2 to be put into the lamp circuit by the rheostat arm, and e is a graduated resistance ladapted to be put into the field circuit of .the dynamo bythe rheostat arm.

2'. and In are motor bre-ak switches operated by the arm ff of the rheostat at the oppositej ends of its arc of travel to prevent said arm from overrunning the rheostat.

therein.

The automatic cut. out herein shown com-j prises a contact lever for connecting two` 'contacts inthe main ydynamo circuit and thereby closing the circuit, the contact leverI being held in open position by a spring and; being. actuated to close the circuit by a inagnet having a coarse coil in the dynamo cir-f cuit, the circuit through which is closed byf the switch, and a'iine wire coil in series, connected with a separate closed dynamo cir- -cuit As soon as the dynamo commences to: .j-i ggenerate, a; current will pass through thef l ne wire coill `of the apparatus, and when; 6.0

alture yis attracted, thereby closing the con-f rlhe foregoing parts are constructed and operate as set forth in my said forrner'pat-- ent and do not of themselves constitute my present invention. 'The operation of the -entire system will be clear from the fol-I description of my improvements lowing thislhas reached a certain strength the arma.-

Y -1` tacts in the" main circuit between the dynamo l'and`." .the acciiinulators.,YA This circuit, as

"shbwnini-,the drawing, lpasses in a seriesv coil aroundv the magnet,land serves to holdi ingenui the armature rmly 'in the t on position. When the adynamo ceases to generate, the attraction of the ii'ne wire coil ceases, and

the armature rises by the pull of the spring,

:d arrange a conductor, indicated in the diagram Fig. l, at t, to short circuit a portion of said resistance when the regulator arm f reaches the extreme high end of its travel. it will be noted in said diagram that the said conductor L is joined to the resistance, as shown, at the left hand end., and at the right hand end it terminatesVY in a small stud h2, which will come in contact with that portion of the arm f which is in contact wit-h the resistance when the said arm reaches the high end of the device is alsoshown in neutral position for avoid the necessity of showing these parts in both positions which they may occupy. It

will be understood that in practice the circuit will be closed through one of the contacts. of the voltmeter control lever and the armature of the relay will be. drawn toward the magnet thereof which is located in the circuit so closed. y Y

l. will now describe my improvements.

m represents the winding of the electromagnet or like device connected across the resistance d. The armature n is normally held in the oill position by means, for eX- ample, of the spring o. When in thisposition the resistance p which is in the field-v circuit of the dynamo and connected tothe contacts g is short circuited and remains so until the potential difference across the lamp resistance al causes the armature n to be at-A the whole scale value of these resistances and the dynamo output, while being reduced, still continues to accommodate itself -to load and voltagefby the movements of the regulator arm f. Should the voltage of the battery be reduced by any means, as for example, a heavy lamp load, the voltmeter ico 'ios

control g will cause the regulator arm f to move back, until there is not sufficient potential difference across the lamp resistance el to hold the armature n; against the spring o, consequently the armature n is released and again short circuits the resistance 19, thus increasing fthe dynamo output to the maximum for that position of the regulator arm.' The same action will take place when the lamps are switched olf, as then the potential difference across the lamp resistance d is obviously zero.

2 shows by way of example only the invention applied to a circuit -y which is regulated by switching cells in or out of circuit by hand as the voltage varies. The windings m are connected so as to be energized by the regulating cells only, whereby the resistance p is inserted in the ield circuit of the dynamo' only when a predetermined number of these are switched out of the main circuit. When all the regulating cells are in the main circuit the potential difference across the windings m is zero and consequently the armature n will short-cir cuit the field resistance p, thus allowing 'the dynamo to give its maximum output. It is obvious that the resistance p could be used in conjunction with a progressive field resistance as in Fig. 1, in which case the scale value of this progressive resistance would be altered whenever the instrument operated.

Claims. l

1. ln an, electric regulator, thefcombina-A tion with an accumulator, a dynamo and a lamp circuit connected with the accumulator and dynamo, and regulating means for inserting resistance progressively in the lamp circuit, and to simultaneously insert resistance progressively in the dynamo field circuit, anindependent resistance and an automatic electric device brought into operation when the potential diiference across the lamp resistance reaches a predetermined point, to cut said independent resistance into the progressive resistance of the dynamo field circuit, to change the scale vvalue of the said progressive resistance and enable the dynamo output, while being reduced to accommodate itself to load voltage conditions under the control of the said regulatingmeans.

. 2. The. combination with a variable speed dynamo, an accumulator, a lamp circuit connected with the ,dynamo and accumulator, progressive resistance for the lamp circuit, progressive resistance for the dynamo field circuit, a separate resistance in circuit with said progressive resistance for the dynamo eld circuit, a short circuiting device for.

` said separate resistance normally short circuiting the same, a circuit across the lamp resistance and an electric device in said circuit, constructed to operate saidv short circuiting device so as to place the separate resistance in circuit with the progressive resistance of, the dynamo ield circuit when the potential ci the circuit in which said electric device is located, reaches a prede termined point.

3. The combination with a variable speed dynamo, an accumulator, a lamp circuit, a progressive resistance for the lamp circuit, a progressive resistance for the dynamo eld circuit, a regulating device for simultaneously cutting said resistance in and out, of a circuit across the lamp resistance, an electro magnetic device having a coil in said circuit, an armature for said electro magnetic device, a spring normally holding said ar1nature in oif position, an independent resistance in circuit with the progressive resistance of the dynamo field circuit, and a normally operative short circuiting device operatively connected with said armature for short circuiting said independent resistance.

HENRY LEITNER. Witnesses:

FRED. J. CoLLis, A. AL'rU'r'r. 

